Chinese blast victim suffers head injuries

Press, 23 November 1988, Page 1

Chinese blast victim suffers head injuries

By

TIM DONOGHUE

of NZPA in Hong Kong A New Zealand woman suffered serious head injuries in a bomb blast on China’s Great Wall at Badaling about noon on Monday. The explosion killed two Chinese and injured several Western tourists including Miss Colleena Wong, aged 34, of Auckland. Miss Wong is being cared for by the Professor of Peking’s Institute of Ophthalmology, Professor Bao Chen, and his staff. A New Zealand Embassy spokesman, David Blackstock, said yesterday that embassy staff called the Australian Embassy’s doctor, Hugh Carpenter, as soon as they were informed of the incident. “He was satisfied everything which could be done medically under the circumstances was being done,” Mr Blackstock said. Wire service reports from Peking suggested the explosion on the wall was a homemade bomb detonated by a young suicide pact couple. The director of the Temple of Heaven Hospital in Peking told embassy staff yesterday morning that Miss Wong’s condition had stabilised overnight; Monday, after lengthy surgery. Miss Wong has been given a single room in the hospital. The embassy’s consul-general, Mr Graeme McGuire, who saw Miss Wong in hospital on Monday

evening, said her injuries appeared to him to be serious. Mr Blackstock said Miss Wong’s family had been notified and her boyfriend was planning to travel to Peking. Miss Wong had been on a visit to the wall with her sister. The Great Wall at Badaling is about 60km from central Peking. The sisters were among the first members of a tour party of about 30 people to arrive at a turret on the left-hand section of the wall. They are understood to have been taking photos in the turret when the explosion occurred. Mr McGuire said he was told a Chinese couple was seen huddling together in the turret shortly before the explosion. Miss Colleena Wong was about 2 metres from the couple when the bomb went off. Her sister suffered slight bruising to her right leg. While Miss Wong was being operated on, many Chinese V.I.P.S visited the hospital offering sympathy and seeking to offer support for the sisters. Miss Wong’s sister is maintaining a vigil by her sister’s bedside. Reuters news agency reported two Chinese were blown to pieces in the blast. Chinese newspapers occasionally carry accounts of suicide pacts by young Chinese frustrated in their love.